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15/08/2012

AM Aug 16th 2Cor 5

August 16th

2 Corinthians,5

1: For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2: For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3: If so be
that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4: For we that are in this
tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but
clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5: Now he that hath
wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the
earnest of the Spirit. 6: Therefore we are always confident, knowing that,
whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7: (For we walk
by faith, not by sight:) 8: We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be
absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9: Wherefore we labour,
that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10: For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad. 11: Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are
made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
12: For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory
on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in
appearance, and not in heart. 13: For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to
God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. 14: For the love of Christ
constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all
dead: 15: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16:
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known
Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17: Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new. 18: And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; 19: To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us
the word of reconciliation. 20: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God. 21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

As Paul faces death everyday for the
ministry that God has called him to, he says, we know that if our bodies be
destroyed we have new bodies ready for us, and they will be eternal in heaven.
And we long for the time when we shall be clothed with new bodies from heaven.
Our spirits will not be found naked in heaven but clothed in resurrection
bodies. In this life our bodies are groaning, longing, and burdened with this
mortal life so that one day we might be clothed in bodies of immortal life. It
is God that is going to do all this and he has given us his Spirit who is the
‘down payment’ as it were of our new dwellings in heaven. We are always full of
confidence because we know that while we are at home in our moral bodies we are
absent from the Lord. We live believing this even though we do not see it yet.
We are confident that if we are absent from or mortal bodies - we will then be
in the presence of the Lord Jesus. And so we work very hard, so that whether we
live or die our service will be acceptable to Him. Because we christians will
all appear before the judgement seat of Christ so that everyone of us may
receive rewards according to our service accomplished while we were in mortal
bodies, whether our service was good or bad. This ‘judgement seat’ that Paul
describes is a concept borrowed from the Games in which athletes compete in a
race. There is not penal judgement in view here. Even if the Athlete fails to
win, he does not go to jail! This judgment is the judgement of the umpire and
this is a reward for faithful service. There are three other judgments in
scripture. 1. The Judgement of sin in the world at the cross. 2. The judgment of
the living nations prior to the kingdom and 3. The Judgement of the great white
throne. This last judgment is a judgment of the unrighteous prior to the lake
of fire. We must be careful to distinguish between these four judgments of
scripture. Paul continues, because we know the terrible consequences of
rejecting the Lord, we seek to persuade men and in doing so we are made
manifest to God in our service. And l trust that we are revealed to your
consciences. We will not introduce ourselves to you again, but we give you an
opportunity to be proud of us so that you might have something to say to those
who glory in outward appearance rather than in the inner man. If we are mad
then we are mad for you. And if we are clear thinking it is for you that we are
clear thinking. The thing that compels us is the Love of Christ in our hearts
for you and because we think like this – that if one died for all of us then we
are all dead in him and he died for us all so that we should live not for
ourselves but for him who died for us and was raised again. So from now on we
do not want to know anyone just as human beings. Even though we have known
Christ in the flesh we do not want to know him in the flesh anymore. As far as
we are concerned if a man is in Christ he is a new creature. All the old things
have passed away and everything has become new. And everything that we have is
from God. And he has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and he has given
to us this ministry of reconciliation. Which is that, God was in Christ
reconciling the whole world unto himself. God did not credit their sins to
their account and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are
ambassadors of Christ. And it is God that is pleading with you though us. We
ask you on behalf of Christ - Be reconciled to God. God made Christ who knew no
sin, to be sin for us, so that; we might be made in Christ the righteousness of
God.

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Pastor Stephen And Ruth Pugh

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